Bella Donna | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 27, 1981 | |||
Recorded | Autumn 1980 – Spring 1981 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 41:55 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | ||||
Stevie Nicks chronology | ||||
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Singles from Bella Donna | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Mojo | [2] |
Record Collector | [3] |
Rolling Stone | [4] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
Smash Hits | 6/10[6] |
Bella Donna is the debut solo studio album by American singer and songwriter Stevie Nicks. Released on July 27, 1981, the album peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 in September of that year. Bella Donna was awarded platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 7, 1981, less than three months after its release, and in 1990 was certified quadruple-platinum for four million copies shipped.[7] Bella Donna spent nearly three years on the Billboard 200, from July 1981 to June 1984.[8]
The album spawned four hit singles during 1981 and 1982: the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-penned duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (number 3), the Don Henley duet "Leather and Lace" (number 6), along with "Edge of Seventeen" (number 11) and the country-tinged "After the Glitter Fades" (number 32).[9]
Bella Donna would mark the beginning of Nicks' trend of calling upon her many musician friends and connections to fully realize her sparse demo recordings. Along with friends Tom Petty and Don Henley, Nicks brought in session musician Waddy Wachtel, Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band pianist Roy Bittan, and Stax session man Donald "Duck" Dunn of Booker T. & the MGs. The album marked the first recording featuring Nicks' backing vocalists, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry, who still record and tour with Nicks today.[10][11]
The album was also included in the "Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums" chart.[12]